Scarfing machine design



Aug. 22, 1967 A. w. GRUBER' Y 3,337,202 I SCARFING MACHINE DESIGN Filed Aug. 13, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. I. FIG. 2.

INVENTOR ARTHUR W. GRUBER ATTORNEY A g- 1967 A. w. GRUBER 3,337,202

SCARFING MACHINE DESIGN Filed Aug. 13, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet z,

INVENTOR ARTHUR W. GRUBEF? Swat/L k QQWUK ATTORNEY FIG. 8.

United States Patent 3,337,202 SCARFING MACHINE DESIGN Arthur W. Gruber, Metuchen, N.J., assignor to Air Reduction Company, Incorporated, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Aug. 13, 1964, Ser. No. 389,280 17 Claims. (Cl. 26623) This invention relates to scarfing apparatus for removing surface metal from steel billets and slabs. The invention is more particularly concerned with apparatus for scarfing slabs because slabs are of much greater Widt-h than thickness, and when they are warped, as is often the case, the warp produces a greater shift in the relative positions of the different faces because of the width of the slab. The invention will be described as applied to slabs, but it will be understood that it can be used also with billets or any metal shapes which require scarfing.

It is an object of the invention to provide improved apparatus for scarfing, and apparatus that can be used for scarfing warped slabs. The invention provides a scarfing station with burners defining a pass through which the slab moves adjacent to burner jets on all sides of the slab for scarfing all sides simultaneously; and the burners are parts of burner assemblieswhich are automatically adjustable to accommodate any warp in the slab.

- Another object is to provide a burner support, preferably for .a scarfing burner, and with independently yield able means at opposite ends of the support which permit it to move into different angular positions to accommodate change in slope of the particular part of a slab surface on which the burner is operating at any particular time. Abutments on the burner assembly and at transversely-spaced locations across the slab, control the change in tilt of the support.

It is another object of the invention to provide means for compensating for changes in the position of the center of gravity of a burner support along a supporting track. The invention obtains this compensation by an automatic control which is responsive to changes in the position of the burner support along the track.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will appear or-be pointed out as the description proceeds.

In the drawing, forming a part hereof, in which like reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic top plan view showing conveyor means for a slab or other work piece and a scarfing station, made in accordance with this invention, and positioned at an intermediate location along the conveyor means;

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic view, on the line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a greatly enlarged diagrammatic view showing a part of the burner assembly of FIGURE 1, the section being taken on the line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary front view of the burner which is shown diagrammatically in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a greatly enlarged, diagrammatic, isometric view showing apparatus for changing the positions of the burner assemblies of the other views automatically, in accordance with changes in the shape of a slab or other work piece;

FIGURE 6 is a diagrammatic view showing the change of position of the burner assemblies when in contact with a warped portion of a slab;

FIGURE 7 is a detail view showing guide means that are used for holding the burner Iassembly supports against longitudinal and transverse movement with respect to the scarfing station; and

3,337,202 Patented Aug. 22, 1967 FIGURE 8 is an enlarged detail view of one of the compensating and one of the locking cylinders illustrated in FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 1 shows conveyor means 20, comprising a plurality of individual rollers 22, along which a slab 24 is advanced with continuous motion by drive-n rollers in a manner well-known in the art. The slab is held in a generally centered position on the rollers 22 by guides 26; these guides being adjustable toward and from one another to accommodate slabs of different size.

A scarfer 28 is movable along rails 30 and can be positioned between the rollers 22 of the conveyor means 20 at a scarfing station, as shown in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 2 is an elevation of the scarfer 28 and shows wheels 32 which support the scarfer from the rails 30. There are two scarfing burner assemblies 34 and 36 carried by the scarfer 28. The upper assembly 34 includes a sup port 38 to which an upper burner 40 is secured. This upper burner 40 operates on the top surface of the slab. The support 38 has a side portion 42 to which a scarfing burner 44 is secured for scarfing the left-hand side of the slab.

The burner assembly 36 includes a support 48 for a burner 50, which scarfs the bottom face of the slab; and this support 48 has a side position 52 supporting another burner 54, which scarfs the right-hand side of the slab. Other structure of the scarfer 28 will be described in connection with other figures of the drawing.

FIGURE 3 shows the slab 24 traveling in the direction indicated by the arrow 58, and traveling under the burner assembly 34. The burner 40 has shoes 60 which contact with the top surface of the slab 24. These shoes 60 extend across a substantial part of the transverse width of the burner 40 as indicated in FIGURE 4. Thus, the shoes 60 provide an abutment which contacts with the slab 24 at locations spaced transversely of the slab for shifting the burner assembly to accommodate changes in the slope of the slab as warped parts of the slab pass the scarfing station, as shown in FIGURE 6.

FIGURE 4 shows a plurality of orifices 62 at closelyspaced locations along the face of the burner 40 for directing scarfing jets 63; and FIGURE 4 also shows rows of pre-heating orifices 64 above and below the scarfing jet orifices 62.

The burner 44 (FIGURE 3), which is secured to the side portion 42 of the burner assembly 34, has a shoe 66, similar to the shoes 60, for contact with the side face of the slab 24. Thus, the burner assembly 34 has an abutment in contact with the side of the slab.

FIGURE 5 shows the burner assembly 34, with the support 38, movable along a track 70. In the illustrated construction, the support 38 has a V-shaped projection 72 which extends into a complementary groove 74 for peranitting movement of the support 38 lengthwise along the track 70, but for preventing other movement of the support 38 with respect to the track 70. This projection 72 and the groove 74 are merely representative of guide means for confining the support 38 to movement lengthwise of the track 70 and in the actual construction of the scarfer, anti-friction supports are preferable.

The burner assembly 34 is independently supported at its opposite ends. At the right-hand end of the track 70 there is a bracket 76 and at the left hand end of the track 70 thereis another bracket 78. These brackets constitute part of the burner assembly 34 and they are rigidly secured to the ends of the track 70. The right-hand end of the burner assembly is supported by a cable 80, attached at one end to the bracket 76 and extending over sheaves 82 to a counterweight 84. The left-hand end of the burner assembly 34 is supported by a cable 86 secured at one end to the bracket 78 and extending over sheaves 88 to a counterweight 90. These counterweights, and associated mechanism which will be described, constitute yielding means independently supporting the opposite ends of the track 70 so that one end of the track can move upward and the other end downward in response to displacement of the burner assembly 34 by a warped slab surface moving into contact with the shoe 60 of the top burner 40.

The lower burner assembly 36 includes a track 94 with brackets 96 and 98 secured to its opposite ends. The support 50 moves along the track 94 in the same manner as the support 38 moves along the upper track 70. The track 94 is supported at its right-hand end by a cable 100 connected to the bracket 96 and extending over sheaves 102 to a counterweight 104. The other end of the track 94 is supported by a cable 106 attached to the bracket 98 and extending over sheaves 108 to a counterweight 110.

Thus, both of the burner assemblies 34 and 36 are capable of tilting movement, but in order to simplify the illustration in FIGURE 5, no guides are shown for preventing other movement of the burner assemblies 34. A detail of such guides is shown in FIGURE 7. The bracket 76 has supports for rollers 113, 111 and 115. The rollers 113 and 115 run against fixed frame elements 117 of the scarfer to prevent movement of the track 70 lengthwise of the path of the slab through the machine; and the roller 111 runs along a fixed frame element 118 of the scarfer to prevent shifting of the burner assembly 34 sideways with respect to the conveyor means along which the slab travels. Guides similar to those shown in FIGURE 7 are provided at both ends of both of the burner assemblies 34 and 36, with minor differences in shape to accommodate the differences in the brackets which connect with the various cables.

The counterweights 104 and 110 (FIGURE which support the lower burner assembly 36, are not of equal size. This difference results from the fact that the end of the burner assembly 36 which is supported by the counter- Weight 104, is heavier than the end which is supported by the counterweight 110, because of the side portion 52 of the support 48. There is no similar side portion at the other side of the support 48 since the burner for the other side of the slab is supported from the upper support 38.

There are brackets 112 and 114 secured to the bottom of the counterweight 104. A cylinder-and-piston motor 116, best shown in FIGURE 8, is connected at one end to the bracket 112 by a pivot connection 118. A piston rod 120, extending from the cylinder, is connected by a pivot connection 122 to the lower end of the counterweight 110. The purpose of the cylinder-and-piston motor 116 is to compensate for changes in the center of gravity of the burner assembly 36 lengthwise of the track 94, in a manner which will be explained.

A cylinder-and-piston dashpot 126 is connected at its lower end with the bracket 114 and has a piston rod 128 connected with the bottom of the counterweight 110 by a pivot connection 130. The opposite ends of the cylinder of the dashpot 126 are connected together by piping 132 through a valve 134 operated by a solenoid 136.

When the valve 134 is open, liquid in the cylinder of the dashpot 126 is free to flow through the piping 132 as the piston in the dashpot 126 moves one way or the other in the cylinder. Thus, the counterweight 110 can move up and down with respect to the bracket 114 (and with respect to the counterweight 104) as the piston rod 128 moves up and down and imparts corresponding movement to the piston.

When the valve 134 is closed, however, the piston in the dashpot 126 cannot displace liquid through the piping 132 from one end of the cylinder to the other and the counterweight 110 is thus locked against movement with respect to the bracket 114 and the other counterweight 104. Similar mechanism, corresponding to the motor 116 in the dashpot 126, is located under the counterweight 84, this similar mechanism being indicated by the same reference characters with a prime appended.

Power means are provided for moving each of the burner assemblies 34 and 36 (FIGURE 5) to open and close the pass between the burners by manual control. This power means for the lower burner assembly 36 includes a lever assembly 140. The cables and 106 pass through opposite ends of the lever assembly and the assembly 140 can rock about a center pivot 142 to permit either cable 100 or 106 to move up or down independently of the other. A cylinder-and-piston motor 144 has a piston rod 146 connected to the lever assembly 140 by the pivot 142. This motor 144 can be supplied with working fluid to raise and lift the counterweights 104 and 110 to move the burner assembly 36 up and down by a manual control 147 which is a three-way valve movable between two different positions to put either end of the cylinder selectively in communication with a working fluid supply line 148 and to put the other end of the cylinder in communication with an exhaust port 149. In order to hold the track 94 level, or at any desired slope, the valve 134 can be closed so that the dashpot 126 locks the counterweights 104 and 110 against relative movement. A similar motor 144' is provided for raising and lowering the upper burner assembly 34.

These motors 144 and 144' can also be used as yielding means for holding the burner assembly 34 and 36 in contact with the surfaces of the slab. When using the vertical actuating motors 144 and 144' to hold the burner assemblies against the slab, the working fluid supplied to these motors is preferably a compressible fluid, such as air.

There is another cylinder-and-piston motor 150 with its cylinder connected to the track 94 and a piston rod 152 connected to the support 50. Working fluid from a supply line 153 is supplied to the motor 150 to move the support 50 one way or the other along the track 94 in accordance with the position of a control valve 154 similar to the valve 147 and having an exhaust port 155, and this motor 150 is used to provide a yielding means for holding the burner on the side portion 52 in contact with the right-hand side of the slab. In similar manner, a cylinder-and-piston motor 150 is connected to the track 70 with its piston rod 152 connected to the support 38 for moving the support 38 along the track 70 and for providing yielding means for holding the burner 44 of the side portion 42 in contact with the left-hand side of the slab.

The counterweights 104 and 110 are of different size to compensate for the fact that the center of gravity of the burner assembly 36 is not midway between the supporting cables 100 and 106, as previously explained. However, this compensation is correct for only one position of the support 50, and other compensating means are provided to accommodate movement of the support 50 lengthwise of the track 94. This additional compensating means includes the cylinder-and-piston motor 116 which is supplied with compressible working fluid through piping leading to a working-fluid regulator 162 attached to a bracket 164 fixed on track 70. This working fluid regulator 162 controls the supply of working fluid to the motor 116 through the piping 160 and controls the pressure of the working fluid. The regulator 162 is operated by a cam follower 166 which runs along a cam 168, for example a sloping cam surface, secured to the support 38. The cam 168 is designed to adjust the regulator 162 in a manner which changes the pressure of working fluid to the motor 116 so that the yielding force of the motor 116, added algebraically to the force of the counterweight 110, has the effect of increasing or decreasing the force on the cable 106 with respect to the force on the cable 100 to compensate for movement of the center of gravity and thus maintain the track 70 level, or substantially so, except when it is displaced from a level position by contact of the abutments of the burner assembly 36 with a slab. Thus, when the burner assemblies 34 are supported in a state of equilibrium by the balancing forces applied by the cylinders, they are free to teeter to either side in response to the contact with a slab 24 in a tilted position as shown in FIGURE 6.

The regulator 162 also controls the supply of working fluid through other piping 160 to the compensating cylinder-and-piston motor 116' for the counterweight 84.

While the machine can be made with a separate regulator 162 for each of the motors 116 and 116, and with the regulator for the motor 116 operated by a cam on the support 50, instead of the one on the support 38, this is not necessary because the slab is supplied to the scarfer at a center location and displacements of one of the supports 38 or 50 causes a corresponding movement, though in the opposite direction, of the other support. In the event that slabs are supplied off center to the machine, two separate regulators 162 will have to be supplied as described in the preceding sentence.

The movement of the burner assembly, in the alternative to that described previously, can be compensated by having the pressure regulator 162 supply Working fluid to a different end of the motor 116 than it does to the motor 116, thus one of the motors, 116, increases the force of its connected counterweight, whereas the other motor, 116, decreases the force of its associated counterweight.

The preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described, but changes and modifications can be made, and some features can be used in different combinations without departing from the invention as defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. Scarfing apparatus including conveyor means along which a work piece is advanced with continuous motion, a scarfing station at an intermediate location along the conveyor means, a scarfing burner assembly including a burner, a supporting means with yieldable means at its opposite ends, said assembly spaced transversely of the direction of movement of the work piece, the yieldable means being movable independently of one another to tilt the burner assembly so as to accommodate the burner assembly to transverse slope and to changes of transverse slope of the face of the work piece on which the scarfing assembly is operated, and abutment means on the burner assembly in position to contact with the work piece across an area of the work piece extending transversely of the direction of movement of the work piece.

2. The scarfing apparatus described in claim 1 characterized by the burner assembly including a burner that directs scarfing jets against the work piece, and the abutment means being a shoe on a side of the burner that is nearest to the work piece and in position to bear against the surface that is being scarfed, and the yieldable means including devices for compensating changes in the center of gravity of the burner assembly.

3. The scarfing apparatus described in claim 1 characterized by the burner being shaped to extend across two contiguous sides of a work piece, a bearing on which the burner moves lengthwise, along the supporting means to efiect movement of the burner toward and from one side of the work piece, and the burner and supporting means being movable as a unit to move the burner toward and from the contiguous side of the work piece.

4. The scarfing apparatus described in claim 3 characterized by means urging the burner to move along the supporting means toward the work piece and means urging the supporting means in a direction to move the burner toward said contiguous side of the work piece.

5. The scarfing apparatus described in claim 4 characterized by the means urging the burner to move along the supporting means, and the means urging the supporting means in a direction to move the burner toward said contiguous side, being motor means that include motors which exert continuous and yielding force.

6. The scarfing apparatus described in claim 5 characterized by the motor means being reversible, and manually-actuated controls for supplying working fluid to the motor means to operate said motor means in either direction.

7. The scarfing apparatus described in claim 5 characterized by separate motor means for opposite ends of the supporting means, and a control for changing the force of the motor means for one end of the supporting means with respect to that of the motor means for the other end of the supporting means to compensate movement of the burner along the length of the supporting means and into jpositions nearer to one end of the supporting means than to the other.

8. The scarfing apparatus described in claim 7 characterized by the separate motor means being compressedgas motors, and the control for changing the force of the motor means including a regulator from which working fluid is supplied to the motor means, and an adjustment on the regulator for adjusting the pressure of the gas supplied to the motor means.

9. The scarfing apparatus described in claim 8 characterized by an actuator responsive to the position of the burner along the supporting means for moving the adjustment of the regulator.

10. The scarfing apparatus described in claim 7 characterized by the control for changing the force of the motor means being connected with the motor means for both ends of the supporting means and having a control for simultaneously increasing the force of one of the motor means while decreasing the force of the other motor means to compensate for changes in the position of the center of gravity of the assembly as the result of movement of the burner away from one side of the supporting means and toward the other.

11. Scarfing apparatus including a burner for directing scarfing jets against a surface of a work piece, a supporting means for the burner, guides in which opposite ends of the supporting means move up and down independently of one another to change the slope of the supporting means to accommodate the burner to warped surfaces of a work piece, a separate counterweight for each end of the supporting means, and flexible connecting means joining each counterweight with a different end of the supporting means.

12. The scarfing apparatus described in claim 11 characterized by the counterweights for both ends of the supporting means being located close to one another, and releasable means connected with both counterweights for locking them against movement with respect to one another.

13. The scarfing apparatus described in claim 12 characterized by the releasable means being a cylinder and piston, one of which is connected with one of the weights and the other of which is connected with the other weight, a passage through which the opposite ends of the cylinder communicate with one another and through which liquid flows to permit movement of the piston in the cylinder during relative movement of the weights, and a valve in the passage movable into position to close the passage to stop flow of liquid from one end of the cylinder to the other and thereby to lock the weights against movement with respect to one another.

14. The scarfing apparatus described in claim 11 characterized by a link pivotally connected at its opposite ends with a flexible connecting means for each counterweight, the link being movable into dilferent positions as the weights and flexible connecting means move with respect to one another, and a motion transmitting connection joined to the link intermediate its connections to the flexible connecting means, and mechanism for moving said motion-transmitting connection to shift both of the counterweights simultaneously and in the same direction.

15. Scarfing apparatus including a supporting means and a scarfing burner movable along the supporting means in a direction to shift the burner transversely of the direction of relative movement of the burner and a work piece which is being scarfed by said burner, means at opposite ends of the supporting means for counterbalancing the weight of the burner and supporting means, said means including devices for varying the counterbalancing force at one end of the supporting means with respect to that at the other in accordance with changes in the position of the burner toward and from one end of the supporting means.

16. The scarfing apparatus described in claim 15 characterized by the devices for varying the counterbalancing ing along the conveyor and lying with its wide bottom side resting on the conveyor, a shorter scarfing burner connected with one side of the wide burner and supported thereby in position to scarf one side of the slab, a second wide burner below the level of the conveyor in position for scarfing a wide bottom side of the slab between portions of the conveyor, a second shorter scarfing burner connected with one side of the second wide burner and supported thereby in position to scarf the other side of the slab, and automatic means for shifting the burners horizontally and vertically to follow vertical and horizontal undulations in the slab along the length thereof and for tilting the burners to follow warps of the slab.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,351,653 6/1944 Anderson 266-23 JOHN F. CAMPBELL, Primary Examiner.

R. F. DROPKIN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. SCARFING APPARATUS INCLUDING CONVEYOR MEANS ALONG WHICH A WORK PIECE IS ADVANCED WITH CONTINUOUS MOTION, A SCARFING STATION AT AN INTERMEDIATE LOCATION ALONG THE CONVEYOR MEANS, A SCRAFING BURNER ASSEMBLY INCLUDING A BURNER, A SUPPORTING MEANS WITH YIELDABLE MEANS AT ITS OPPOSITE ENDS, SAID ASSEMBLY SPACED TRANSVERSELY OF THE DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT OF THE WORK PIECE, THE YIELDABLE MEANS BEING MOVABLE INDEPENDENTLY OF ONE ANOTHER TO TILT THE BURNER ASSEMBLY SO AS TO ACCOMMODATE THE BURNER ASSEMBLY TO TRANSVERSE SLOPE AND TO CHANGES OF TRANSVERSE SLOPE OF THE FACE OF THE WORK PIECE ON WHICH THE SCARFING ASSEMBLY IS OPERATED, AND ABUTMENT MEANS ON THE BURNER ASSEMBLY IN POSITION TO CONTACT WITH THE WORK PIECE ACROSS AN AREA OF THE WORK PIECE EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF THE DIRECTION OF MOVEMENT OF THE WORK PIECE. 